![]() Against the Flow is a new blog that will deal with serious and difficult topics, and occasionally with softer subjects too. It will side with politics that strives to do the right thing, as opposed to favouring quick and easy answers. Rather than practising mere public relations, it will encourage journalism that seeks the truth and explores what is really going on in the community. It will praise political leaders who take responsibility for their words, actions and mistakes. It will show respect for First Nations peoples for their great strengths and for the many injustices they are overcoming. It will salute those who recognize that our planet is both burning up and drowning due to climate change and undertake to fight on behalf of Planet Earth.
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The recent crisis with Donald J. Trump burdening Canada and the rest of the world with his damaging and irrational tariff threats and “off the top” proposals, reinforces the need for CBC/Radio Canada to provide a strong and unifying voice for this country.
Marie-Philippe Bouchard, the new CBC/Radio Canada President, has just demonstrated her skills on behalf of the national broadcaster, emphasizing that the corporation does not operate only to chronicle the politics of the nation, but must also reflect and encourage this country’s unity and rich culture. She spoke Jan. 29 on The Current with CBC radio’s Master Interviewer, Matt Galloway. This was Bouchard’s first opportunity to speak to the Canadian nation, and she did an admirable job. As Canadian political leaders struggle to maintain a “Team Canada” approach in the face of Trump, CBC/Radio Canada is a vital force just now. President Donald J. Trump is on a flight too far with his outrageous reaction to the U.S. airplane-helicopter disaster. Trump finally appears to have turned off many Americans, not to mention Canadians, with his paranoia and obsessive blame game.
In the early hours of Thursday morning, Trump began an astonishing rant, blaming Democrats and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) employees for the midair collision between the airliner and the U.S. army helicopter. The two aircraft crashed into the Potomac River, near the Reagan Washington International Airport. Sixty-seven people are presumed dead. American Eagle Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, carrying 60 passengers and four crew members, collided midair with the army helicopter, carrying three people. American figure skaters, coaches and family members who had been at a skating camp in Wichita, were among those who died. The dangerous mix of Donald Trump, Prime Minister Trudeau’s departure and the coming Federal election, is putting huge pressure on Cabinet Ministers and members of the Liberal caucus to pick a winner in the current Liberal Leadership race.
Of the seven candidates thus far, Mark Carney and Chrystia Freeland are the front-runners, with the credible, youthful Karina Gould, a distant third. With no strong Quebec candidate in the running for the party leadership the choice made by two senior Quebec Ministers becomes very important. Both Francois-Phillippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, and Melanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, have declared for Carney. Finance Minister Dominic Leblanc remains the most senior francophone minister in the Cabinet. Among other senior ministers also supporting Carney are the Labour Minister, Steve MacKinnon, a bilingual Ottawa area MP, originally from PEI. Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, the minister most identified with the controversial Carbon Tax, is now saying he is “forced to recognize that the Carbon Tax is “very unpopular.” Midst the unprecedented swirl of major International and national events, New Brunswick new Premier, Susan Holt has matters well in hand, moving her province well beyond the dreary days of former Premier Blaine Higgs.
On the national stage, Premier Holt has taken a solid “Team Canada” approach and fit in well with New Brunswick’s other main political figure, federal Finance and Intergovernmental minister, Dominic LeBlanc. Premier Susan Holt has already delivered the central message to New Brunswickers about her government, turning politics here from “me” to “we” – throwing the “I” approach to governing of former Premier Blaine Higgs into the ash can in favour of a commendable “team approach.” The team ethic is already very evident in her reliance on her cabinet colleagues and her caucus members. It was clear right from election night when she rhymed off virtually every member of her team in the first blush of victory. After nine years as Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau deserves our thanks for his service in a very challenging time.
Since last summer, the Against the Flow blog has twice called on the Prime Minister to leave. Mr. Trudeau ignored this small voice and that of many others. To the end, he believed that he was the best person and political campaigner to combat Pierre Poilievre, the Leader of the Conservative Party, and the dangerous threats against Canada of incoming U.S. President Donald Trump. As argued earlier in the space, Trudeau will not be remembered for one great accomplishment such as that which his father, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau achieved with the patriation of the Canadian constitution and the Charter of Rights. Yet, Justin Trudeau has had many achievements, including:
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is a proud man, but it is time for him to take a walk in the snow.12/19/2024 Close to 40 years after his father, Pierre Trudeau, took his proverbial walk in the snow, it is time for Justin Trudeau to do the same thing and resign.
As was also true for his father, Justin, is a very proud man and wants to make the most important decision of his life when he is ready. After nine years in the country’s top job, we owe him this much. Now that he is in a blizzard of controversy and his leadership is extremely fragile, Justin Trudeau must take Parliament’s holiday break to reflect and then announce that he is leaving. The late stages of Pierre Trudeau’s career were much as they are now for Justin. Pierre Trudeau’s closest ally and confidant, Marc Lalonde worried back in 1984 that Pierre no longer had the support of his caucus. Now, Justin Trudeau has just had his erstwhile strongest supporter and Deputy Prime Minister, Chrystia Freeland leave his side in a bitter departure that rocked the nation. Marshal Phillipe Petain the future leader of the part of France that was collaborating with Adolf Hitler, stated: “In three weeks, England will have her neck wrung like a chicken.” This prompted Churchill’s strong retort.
Adolf Hitler’s forces had easily marched into France and the world was a very scary place at that time, as it is today. The grit of Churchill inspired Canadians to rally to Churchill’s call to defeat Adolf Hitler and his juggernaut. Why should Canadians stand up to the bully figure of Trump today? Because it does matter when Trump pushes us around and shows he does not respect us as a people. The world is again headed in a very dangerous direction, and as the old saying tells us, the world has a way of beating its path to our door. The dangers signals are there with Trump. No sooner had he won a massive victory in the Presidential election than he began parading out the most frightening, self-serving, mega-rich individuals to conduct his faulty vision for the United States, Canada and the World. From out of a very dark cave, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau finally took steps this week toward restoring his reputation as a man with a purpose.
Along with his Public Safety Minister, Dominic Leblanc and his chief of staff, Katie Telford, the PM flew down to have an important dinner with President-elect Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate. It was not an earth-shattering occasion, but if was significant in view of Trump’s threat to impose a twenty-five per cent tariff on all goods entering the U.S.A. Furthermore, when Mr. Trudeau returned to Ottawa, he quickly briefed the leaders of the Opposition parties, including Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre who until then had kept his distance from any involvement in a Team Canada approach to the tariff threat. It was an action-packed week with yet another notice of a Conservative Non-Confidence Motion for the government. Get serious, Mr. Poilievre: A “Carbon Tax election” during the Holiday Season and when there is a national crisis over the tariff!
Of the six words highlighted by Off, the one I want most to concentrate on here, is “Truth.”
Truth is a vital part of journalism. This truth is not absolute, in other words it is not the same as when we say, “There are seven days in the week”, or “The sun rises in the east and sets in the west.” |